Just flippin' miserable

BitterAndTwisted

If your father is going to lend you £200 to do a load of decorating, decorating which is going to do nothing but paper over the cracks of the real issues, then you would have the money for a dehumidifier. Come autumn I suspect you are going to be right back where you are now, if not sooner. And two hundred quid poorer

coinxoperated

But it's NOT just buying a damn humidifier is it!! It's the electricity costs of running the flipping' thing!! I've done some research and running it 24/7 would DOUBLE my electric bill!

I'm not posting again, it's like banging my head on a brick wall!!

lostinrates

coinxoperated wrote: »

But it's NOT just buying a damn humidifier is it!! It's the electricity costs of running the flipping' thing!! I've done some research and running it 24/7 would DOUBLE my electric bill!

I'm not posting again, it's like banging my head on a brick wall!!

I think you might find thats rather how people trying to help you feel.

I have lived in a place that sounds very like yours. And fwiw we did run a dehumidifier twenty four seven and it did not touch it. So i agree with you there.

But you are planning to throw good money after bad i am afraid.

If you value your health leave. Get a house share, more in with family, anything. If not for you for your little dog. Its lungs are vulnerable too.

Sambucus_Nigra

lostinrates wrote: »

If you value your health leave. Get a house share, more in with family, anything.

This. No more, no less.

Shovel_Lad

coinxoperated wrote: »

But it's NOT just buying a damn humidifier is it!! It's the electricity costs of running the flipping' thing!! I've done some research and running it 24/7 would DOUBLE my electric bill!

I'm not posting again, it's like banging my head on a brick wall!!

j.e.j.

OK To be fair maybe some of the posters on this thread don't have much insight into your situation (a lot of people who got their mortgages years ago have absolutely NO idea what renting in the private sector is like!)

But I'm not sure what to say to make things better for you

*Contact Shelter asap.
*Can you get, say, £1000 from ANYone/ANYwhere so that you can pay a month's deposit and rent for a new place? I know with a dog that won't be as easy but surely there are people with pets who rent properties. For most of us renting is the only option these days.
*Is it possible to re-negotiate your DRO?
*Pop to the Up Your Income board and see if you can start getting a bit of cash coming in, and put that towards moving costs.

And even if you can't do all or any of the above, chin up, there will come a time when you will be in a better situation and you'll look back on all this and say to yourself '.. remember the time when I lived in that godforsaken rat-hole..' :rotfl:

Sambucus_Nigra

j.e.j. wrote: »

OK To be fair maybe some of the posters on this thread don't have much insight into your situation (a lot of people who got their mortgages years ago have absolutely NO idea what renting in the private sector is like!)

Maybe...or maybe not.

I've lived in approx 35 different places in my life, 25 of them as an adult and only had a mortgage on 2 of them. I'd never have paid £200 to decorate a landlord's property. No way jose. I once painted a flat in very bold colours but the max I spent on that would have been 3 tins of paint. And that was because I could not live with lemon walls - all they asked was that I signed a year's lease up front and they let me do it.

This is not about convenience, this is about health and welfare and the OP needs to go through the proper process or get out.

£200 on doing up someone else's property is a complete waste of money and I really feel for the OP that they can't see that.

Padstow

I went back to read your original post again and you've
removed it as no one reads it all!! I wanted to re-read the actual question being asked by you.

Never mind, I feel your frustration as it must be dreadful having to live like that. Something has to be done to get you out of there ASAP, due to the mould, it's dangerous to health as you already know.
If it's cheaper, wipe over the mould with bleach rather than a specialist remover, no need to rinse off. Thick type is the best, kills it for a long time.
I don't think opening the windows will help much, as being next to a canal, the air is just as damp outside.

I would guess that either the property needs repointing or the brickwork is so porous it needs Watershield, possibly both. I can't see the LL doing either.

Sometimes people who can manage, can't understand how broke such as you and me are. Having to run a dehumidifier for instance. That would really crank up the leccy bill and you don't want that.

When you say the floor and skirting board weren't replaced what was left? Is it screed with a gap where the skirting should be? Perhaps you could explain it in more detail and then post that particular question on the thread titled "In My Home (including DIY) Moneysaving". In fact telling them there, that you have £200 to make life bearable might be a good move. I found them very helpful.

The cheap way to catch damp, with no maintenance costs is with a simple box on a shelf. Also use bags containg the same crystals in among your clothes. You mentioned storing some in sealed bags.
Remember they will be damp when you do, so dry them first, and enclose the damp absorber bags in with them.

Spiders and bugs. Any disturbance brings them out such as lifting floors, and Woodlice love damp wood. I'm surprised you didn't mention Silverfish, as they too love the damp. Sticky strips, make your own.

I don't know how old you are. Too old to want to share with students though?
I would sugest that you register with letting agents, Don't worry about credit checks, just be upfront with them and say you have references, have never defaulted on your rent and have a small, well behaved dog. I take it your dog was in your last rented property?

Failing that, is to look for a lodging.
I love dogs in my home so there must be others.

I intended to post many links but keep losing my post. I think however that I've given you enough to go on.

coinxoperated

Thank you do much padstow and j.e.j for at least trying understand the position I'm in.

I removed the original post as it seemed nobody read it, and those that did didn't bother reading anything else I posted on here, so we're just recommending financially out of reach plans.

I've been bleaching the walls in the bathroom once a month and it has reduced the mould a lot. I shall continue with a thicker blech.

It's such a shame that the flat is on its last legs. It's in a gorgeous location, and in about 7/8/9 months my financial position will e much better.

I have literally scoured gumtree and rightmove and estate agents looking a for a house share of some sort, but they just won't do it because of the dog. I even took him with me too one who were 'unsure' to show them exactly how small he is, and they still said no :-(

If I had no prospect of a financial improvement I would rehome my dog, but in truth I have very little family, even my father lives many miles away and doesn't feel he should look after his daughters, my sister is financially screwed living with a man who spends all her money in a 1 bed studio flat.... There really isn't anyone else. Other than my dog, who is more or less my best friend.

I just want to make this horrid flat bareable for the next 6 months and then I can get moving, probably into a house.

I was even told my one estate agent that there was 'no need or ll's to rent to people with pets, as plenty don't have them, so they have the choice' :-(

Although I know landlords of houses are little more easy going. I think with flats/house shares, it's the impact it COULD have on other tenants. Living in a flat myself, the guy in the flat above got a massive dog that barked 24/7. Now, I love dogs, but it became so annoying.

My dog isn't like that, but only I know that! I have references from a past property and will have one for this one stating the dog has not been an issue.

Thank you for your advice. It is very much appriciated x

shegirl

And you think decorating is the option you have?do you honestly think it will make much,if any difference?It won't last long.

You're just wasting money in desperation and your landlord may not be too happy about it.

The two real options you have are to get environmental health involved or move.Personally,I'd go with moving!

If you dad can lens you so much money to decorate someone roses property could he help towards a deposit?

Another option for a deposit is enquiring about crisis loans or your councils rent deposit scheme.If you go direct through a landlord you may find it easier to be accepted.

coinxoperated wrote: »

There is no way he could prove what colours the walls were when I moved in!

I'm painting and decorating next weekend. And as far as i'm concerned it's a hardly decorated property anyway, when I moved in the walls were only half painted with some gross lemon colour.

If you had read the previous posts correctly, there is absolutely no contract or anything stating I can't decorate, nor an inventory.

If you owned a property that had plaster falling off the walls and damp everywhere, I'm sure you would be pretty grateful someone made it look half decent.

I appriciate the feedback on my other posts, but feel so frustrated that the only real recommendations I've had is to run a de-humidifier which I have stated I can not afford.

I'm literally left with no option.